Hidden Valley

Without the protection of the Sacred Flame's lingering radiance, even the air had turned grimly cold.

As Xiao Fan ran, his thoughts raced, replaying and analyzing everything that had happened to him this time.

That Wu Xiong was clearly nothing more than cannon fodder. The key lay with the one behind him: Qin Han.

Qin Han was a notorious young scoundrel in the capital, the son of Qin Hui, the Vice Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet.

Among the court's high ministers, aside from special offices like the Shadow Pivot Court, the Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet stood at the head of all officials, with the Vice Grand Secretary next in line. Their authority was enough to blot out the sky.

In recent years, the Crown Prince had weakened while the Fourth Prince's reputation had steadily risen. Qin Hui had boarded the Fourth Prince's carriage, and his power now showed signs of overshadowing even the Grand Secretary.

That pampered young master Qin Han had grown ever more overbearing in the capital, relying on his father's influence.

The more Xiao Fan thought about it, the more his scalp prickled. Wu Xiong's backer was Qin Han, and Zhang Bin, the city gate commandant, was Qin Han's lackey too!

Could that really be a coincidence? Not likely...

Besides, Qin Han did not even know Xiao Fan. Why had he gone to such painstaking lengths?

Behind Qin Han clearly stood his father, Qin Hui. Qin Hui had already pledged himself to the Fourth Prince, and the Fourth Prince and the Crown Prince were like fire and water... Coupled with the Crown Prince's care for Ji Xuanyuan...

"Could the Fourth Prince be behind all this?"

Xiao Fan vaguely felt that the threads of the matter were beginning to emerge from the water.

But as soon as he thought that far, he swiftly rejected his own guess. Things could not possibly be so simple!

The Fourth Prince truly was at odds with the Crown Prince, but what sense was there in kidnapping Ji Xuanyuan just to suppress the Crown Prince? What could it accomplish?

It was simply drawing legs on a snake, an unnecessary extra move. Not only would it fail to harm the Crown Prince in the slightest, it might even bring a heap of trouble upon themselves.

"No... that shouldn't be the logic of it."

Xiao Fan's train of thought broke off there. He still had far too little information.

"Once I find Father, I'll have to find a chance to meet this Qin Han!"

Xiao Fan muttered to himself, a plan taking shape in his heart.

Xiao Fan hurried on for nearly two hours before finally reaching the foot of Great Azure Mountain. The entrance to Hidden Valley lay ahead.

Yet the sight before him made Xiao Fan freeze where he stood, unable to take another step forward...

The entire gorge was completely shrouded in layers upon layers of white mist. There was no way to see the path within.

White mist coiled through the valley as though it were a place beyond the mortal world.

The closer he drew to the valley mouth, the more his hair stood on end.

It was not the bone-piercing wind of winter, but a suffocating, sinister cold—a deathly aura that passed through the skin and struck straight at the soul.

"There's something wrong with this mist! Could it be Night Erosion?!"

Xiao Fan muttered inwardly, a sense of foreboding rising within him...

His suspicion was not some wild fancy conjured from thin air.

Night Erosion phenomena were not all mutations of flesh and blood; all manner of warped aberrations were possible.

According to the Bureau of Celestial Observation's records, there were more than a hundred known Night Erosion phenomena: ghost walls that trapped people in endless circles... bottomless pits... seas turning into deserts... deserts turning into marshes, and so on.

Mutations of flesh and blood made up only a small portion of them.

The strange white mist before him immediately triggered Xiao Fan's Night Erosion PTSD.

To be safe, waiting until dawn before entering would undoubtedly be far safer.

But he could not wait.

His father's fate was still unknown. It had only just passed the hour of the boar, and dawn was still at least four hours away. How could he wait?

This bizarre white mist had appeared from nowhere, and he did not even know whether it had been caused by Night Erosion. Once he entered, there might be no road back.

Xiao Fan shook his head helplessly. After gathering his courage and taking several deep breaths with his eyes closed, he charged resolutely into the eerie white mist.

The good news was that his Calamity Poison Value system showed no reaction, and his Calamity Poison Value did not increase in the slightest.

That meant this strange fog was not Night Erosion!

At its core, Night Erosion was caused by localized Calamity Poison naturally arising between heaven and earth.

Anyone within an environment tainted by Calamity Poison would inevitably suffer corrosion, causing their Calamity Poison Value to rise, just as it had during his previous two encounters with Night Erosion.

Yet this time, his Calamity Poison Value showed no response at all, and he himself felt no sign of Calamity Poison deepening within him.

Not Night Erosion... That was good news, at least.

But the bad news was that the moment he entered the valley, the surroundings began to feel wrong.

Xiao Fan knew the terrain of Great Azure Mountain.

Yet the environment before him was completely different from what he knew. Both the path into the valley and the path out had changed beyond recognition!

It was clearly the same place, yet it seemed like two entirely different realms.

Not only had the landform changed completely, even the plants growing in the valley had become different species.

The ground was covered in swamps and muddy bogs. The trees around him had grotesque shapes, their branches crooked and twisted like a wrung-out rag, utterly devoid of life.

Things had come this far. He could only grit his teeth and continue exploring.

The farther in he went, the thicker the mist became, along with a rotting stench of corpses.

His heart had nearly risen into his throat. Even the faintest rustle of wind or grass could jolt his taut nerves.

The rotten smell ahead grew increasingly pungent.

Pat... pat...

Slow footsteps drifted vaguely from within the mist.

Out of caution, Xiao Fan stopped to listen, judging the other party's position and distance from the changing rhythm of the footsteps.

Sure enough, the footsteps gradually grew louder. Something truly was approaching him.

"May I ask who approaches from ahead?"

Xiao Fan called out tentatively.

Pat... pat...

There was no response, only those slow, eerie footsteps drawing ever nearer.

The white mist was dense and heavy. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans formed on Xiao Fan's forehead, while a sense of foreboding flooded his heart.

Suddenly, the footsteps in the mist stopped. Xiao Fan was slightly taken aback, uncertainty filling him.

A low roar came from ahead, and a humanoid black shadow suddenly sprang from the white mist!

Xiao Fan had been mentally prepared. He twisted aside and barely avoided it.

Turning to look, he saw a humanoid rotting corpse, its entire body decayed and ruined beyond recognition.

Several chunks of rotten flesh hung from its horrifying head. One eye was long gone, leaving only a pitch-black socket, while two blackened skeletal hands flailed wildly about, sending chills down the spine.

It opened its gaping bloody mouth, revealing blackened, cracked teeth. A wave of foul stench rushed over him, sickening enough to make one retch.

"A corpse ghoul!"

Xiao Fan shifted and sprang aside, evading the corpse ghoul's pounce. He drew the short sword he had picked up from Wu Xiong, aimed at its ruined head, and brought the blade down!

Pfft!

The corpse ghoul's head separated from its body, and it crashed to the ground.

After all, Xiao Fan was a ninth-rank martial artist. A mere corpse ghoul was no challenge for him.

Xiao Fan let out a breath of relief and was about to turn away when the headless corpse ghoul suddenly sprang up again, brandishing its two black skeletal claws as it lunged at him once more.

"So long as the evil remains, the corpse ghoul will not rest!"

Xiao Fan swung his short sword backward, hacking eight inches into the headless corpse ghoul's chest and abdomen, then used the momentum to pin its body to the ground.

With his other hand, he wiped at the wound, and blood dripped onto the corpse ghoul.

His hand seals shifted, and he pointed two fingers like a sword. "Fire Element Art!"

Boom!!! The blood burst into flames!

In an instant, the corpse ghoul let out a shrill, miserable screech!

Blazing fire engulfed the rotting corpse in the blink of an eye.

The headless corpse ghoul struggled desperately in the flames, but it soon fell still, turning into a charred, withered skeleton.

Before he could even catch his breath, a creaking sound came from the boundless thick mist.

Immediately afterward, rustling creaks of grass came one after another from all directions, accompanied by low growls that made his scalp go numb.

Eerie cries rose from every side!

Xiao Fan's heart instantly turned ice-cold, and he could not help cursing, "Did I fucking stab a corpse ghoul nest!?"